Beauty

A few weeks back, I entered in to one of the many Instagram contests I enter into on a daily basis, not thinking anything of it. A few days later I received an email from the host (Deep Fried Fit) that I had won a Eyelash Extensions from Amazing Lash Dallas along with some other great items. I was so freaking stoked! Despite entering hundreds of giveaways, this was my first time to actually win.

So like any humble winner, I thanked the host and began contacting all the companies to receive my items.

I was very intrigued about the eyelash extensions above everything and it really got me thinking. I had never even considered lash extensions but I have always loved the way false lashes widened and brightened my eyes. Would this be a good fit for me? I’m not exactly a girly girl. I take that back. I’m not at all a girly girl. I lost my hairbrush for a few weeks and never bothered to pick up a new one. I own a ton of makeup but I only do a full face maybe twice a month. Are extensions really for me?

Despite my reservations I went ahead and booked my appointment.

This is when my nerdy side kicked in. I research everything.

My brain pattern: Eyelash extensions? Sure! But then I thought… How do you improve your own lash health so you can grow your own beautiful lashes, naturally? Google!

From my research I learned:

Tip #1 – Don’t use waterproof mascara

Okay, this may be a little extreme. You’re thinking… but Heather what about when I go to the beach and I want to look like an uber hottie. Do so in moderation. If you do use waterproof mascara, make sure you stay sober enough to remember to wash your face at night. The chemical composition that makes your mascara waterproof is extremely drying to your lashes. What happens when your hair get’s dry and brittle? It falls out! Also, when you go to wash your face off, you tend to have to rub and rewash because that ish is resilient. In conclusion, don’t use it as a daily go-to. Save it for those special fresh-faced occasions or when tears are likely.

Tip #2 – Loosen up the ninja death grip on your curler

I feel like this one is a given, but worth mentioning. When you are using your curler be sure you are holding it when a very steady hand. It’s super easy to accidentally start pulling the tool away before you have completely loosened the grip on your lashes. Let it loose or your curler my take all your lashes with it. Ouch. Try to limit your hold to between 10-20 seconds so you’re not overdoing it.

Tip #3 – Take a multi-vitamin that supports healthy hair growth

Vitamins such as Vitamin B, C, and E, Biotin, Niacin, along with many others help promote hair growth as well as improves the quality of the hair that is coming in. One thing that many people don’t consider as well is improving their gut health. I personally have something called leaky gut syndrome. This causes malabsorption of vitamins, even if I am taking them. If you feel like you have a relatively healthy diet or are not seeing any benefits to taking vitamins, it might be worth looking into improving your gut health. Some of the supplements I take for this are L-Glutamine, Digestive Enzymes, and Probiotics. I am not a doctor though, so if this sounds familiar, it might be worth asking for the blood work ;).

Tip #4 – Don’t wear old makeup

Most mascaras have an antimicrobial agent in them to help prevent bacteria from building up and giving your gross eye infections. This agent only stays active for between 3-6 months, so once you’ve reached that point, throw that bad boy out. Eye infections = rubbing eyes = losing lashes.

Tip # 5 – Find a good eyelash conditioner

Just like your hair needs to be conditioned, your lashes can use the moisture too. Lash conditioner generally contains keratin or biotin to help strengthen and moisturize your lashes. Conditioner is not something to look for to stimulate the growth of new lashes but rather helps to extend the longevity of your lashes. Also similar to the hair on our head, lashes naturally fall out and grows back. The less hair that is falling out while new hairs are growing back… the fuller your lashes will be.

Then there are people like me and others who have zero patience and want a quick fix. So in came the extensions.

My thoughts:

The experience itself went very well. I showed up to Amazing Lash Studio at Firewheel mall and was taken back immediately. The artist.. stylist.. (not sure what they are called) who did my lashes was very polite and helpful in assisting me to choose a style. Apparently when you go you should know the following things:

Length of lashes

Style of lashes

Color of lashes

I was so caught up in the though of growing out my lashes that I didn’t bother researching what you should know for the extensions. Oops. But now I know…

In the above photo I am wearing a size 12 extension in the “Gorgeous” style in black.

After they were finished, I was a little overwhelmed with how long they were. I didn’t consider the fact that I wasn’t wearing any makeup though. When I got home and put on my makeup for the night they looked awesome!

Day 2 wearing them was even better. The first 48 hours you have them in you aren’t supposed to let them get wet so I had slept in my eye makeup. That morning when I woke up I literally crawled out of my bed and started my day. The lashes were still on fleek and I felt gorgeous.

All in all I am happy with how they turned out. If I decide to get them redone I will probably tone it down to a size 8 or 9.

What tricks have you used to grow out your luscious lashes? Let me know in the comments below!

Today’s tattoo is another one of my own. It is a pirate skull with Floridian flowers and butterflies. Florida is my home away from home. I have spent entire summers there and vacationed there my entire life. A good portion of my family is from there and we have friends that we have made over the years as well.

Most of my tattoos unless otherwise stated were all done at Black Cat Tattoo in Panama City Beach, Fl. The following tattoo wasn’t done by my usual artist Darren, but by a gentleman that was filling a guest spot for the time being.

If you have a tattoo you would like featured for Tattoo Tuesday, please send me an email with a photo, description and background information. My email address is heather@20somethingsyndrome.com

If you haven’t noticed yet, I am quite fond of tattoos. So much so, that I’d like to start a series of posts dedicated to them. The posts may not be every week but I will keep them fairly often. I will post my tattoos, friend’s and random ones I fall in love with online.

To start this series off I’ve chosen to feature my personal favorite of my tattoos. One that holds special meaning to me.

This is my zombie pin-up babe. This tattoo has very sentimental meaning to me. I had a lot of physical ailments as a child and each of the scars that my zombie has represents some kind of illness or ailment I went through. The banner is pretty self explanatory. As Nazareth says, “Love Hurts”.

I have had a tanning membership for as long as I can remember. I think the first time I tanned I was probably 15 years old. Now, don’t get me wrong, I was never one to go tanning EVERY DAY or even every week. I usually would tan once every other week, if that, but I would stay in the full amount of time and rarely wore any sunblock. That is until now. Awhile back I learned that my mom has skin cancer and it has taken me a long time to realize the severity of this issue. Every month she has new spots come up that she has to go get removed surgically. The saddest thing of all is that she didn’t have to be suffering from this. She was just like me and didn’t really bother with sunscreen much when she used to go tanning as well. I’d like to think this whole experience is one that I will choose to learn from someone else’s mistake and not go through it myself. Knowing that I am more prone to getting skin cancer I decided that I need to start taking care of my skin and my health. That led me to try the sunless tanning experience!

After much research I came across SunLabs sunless tanning lotion. It has the best reviews out of any other tanning lotion in regards to ease of use, quality, price, and results. I normally have VERY fair skin, we’re talking porcelain doll here people, so I was pretttty worried about turning in to one of the oompa loompas off of Jersey Shore. To test it out I decided to try putting it on just my legs. I read through quite a few blogs about how to apply it and watched my fair share of YouTube videos too and this is the process I came up with.

Step 2:Ex-foliate! This step is actually very important. In order to ensure that you will have an even tan with no patches you need to make sure to be very thorough with this step. To apply the ex-foliant you simply apply it liberally all over, including your face. To make sure I got all of the dead skin particles I rubbed my hands in a circular motion while applying the ex-foliant.

(Looks kind of funny, huh :p)

Step 3:Shower and shave. Make sure you shave any areas that you have coarse hair that you will be applying the tanner to. Also, be certain to get ALL of the scrub rinsed off.

Step 5:Apply the awesome new sunless tanner you just purchased! A little hint I have for you is to keep your fingers tightly together while applying and apply in sections in a circular motion. Blend, blend, blend. You do not want to accidentally keep going over the same spot over and over again as it will make that area darker than others. One of the good things about this lotion is you can pretty much see where you are applying it because it is a dark colored lotion so that helps tremendously. Be careful not to get too much of the lotion on your joints or rough parts of your skin as it will be much darker( i.e. knees, elbows, knuckles, toes and ankles). I didn’t think about this until after and I got a LOT on my toes but I went at them with a pumice stone and scraped those suckers clean.

If you decide to put it on your face, I mixed a little bit of my moisturizer in with the tanning lotion to make it more subtle.

OH! Wash and ex-foliate your hands often! The tanner will make your hands crazy dark and weird looking if you don’t. :p I don’t suggest using gloves because it may make it a bit streaky looking.

Done! You will see subtle results pretty quickly, I’d say within 3-4 hours, and by the next morning you will look smokin’ hot! DO NOT take a shower until the next morning to make sure the lotion has plenty of time to soak in and settle in to your skin.

Here are some before and afters. These were taken at different times of the day, but the results really were quite dramatic.

Before and Afters:

(excuse the mess, we are in the process of moving)

Just to give you an idea, this was immediately after putting on the lotion.

Reviews:

SunLabs UltraDark Sunless Tanning Lotion in Dark– I would give this tanning lotion 4 out of 5 stars. It was extremely easy to use and apply. It doesn’t actually smell terrible like a lot of tanning lotions do. The color was very nice. I wouldn’t say it was entirely a natural looking tan but it’s the closest I have seen so far. The only down side to it was that even though I washed and ex-foliated my hands multiple times it still stained my hands, it did wash off after a day or so though.

100% Pure Cocoa Kona Coffee Body Scrub– I loved and hated this body scrub. It worked SO well. My boyfriend even commented on how smooth my skin was and how nice it looked. My only complaint was the smell. I bought this scrub on clearance at Ulta and it was the only scent left but it was true to it’s title. It smelt exactly like Coffee. Ew. Luckily it didn’t overpower the scent of my body wash after rinsing it off. I would give this body scrub a 3 out of 5. Had I purchased it in a different scent, it would have a better rating.

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Disclaimer-*Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”